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Greg Barnaby

FAMILY:  I’m Single. My family arrived in Las Vegas in June of 1961 having been transferred to Nellis Air Force Base from Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu. I was about to turn seven and my sister Michelle, class of 73, was 5.

OCCUPATION:  I am an Artist, musician and convention info host.

FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES:  My memories mostly surround Art, Drama and Music classes in addition to Frank Lendini's Mixed Chorus.  I also remember Mrs.Kelly's art class, Pep Rally skits, Dave Humm and the Gael's taking State!!....And, being kicked out of Algebra class for always forgetting my pencil.  Everything important…which is everything!

HOW I LIKE TO SPEND MY TIME:  I spend my time practicing my Faith and my art, reading, painting, traveling and spending quality time with loved ones!

FUN TIDBIT(S) ABOUT ME:  I went on the Let’s Make a Deal television show with my sister, Michelle.  We were dressed as sailors.  We won the Big Deal; a cruise to Vancouver B.C. just after my discharge from the Navy.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MY LIFE SINCE HIGH SCHOOL:  I’ve been a Las Vegas resident for 44 years and began painting at the age of fifteen with the Desert Daubers Club under the guidance of Mrs. Hazel Herter and Mrs. Dorothy Heick.  I exhibited my work at the Charleston Plaza and Boulevard Malls during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

I attended Torn Williams, Walter Bracken and St. Christopher’s elementary schools.  During my Junior year at Gorman, Rosemary Kelly founded the school’s first art class and club.  It was then that I was encouraged to enter a college devoted entirely to art.  After submitting a portfolio of work, I received my letter of acceptance from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

College would be postponed for several years, however, as I served in the U.S. Navy on board the USS Juneau, LPD-10, an amphibious transport dock carrying equipment and Marines to Viet Nam.

Extended periods at sea allowed me to practice my art.  I painted insignias for the various divisions on board ship and completed four murals in the mess hall that were later featured in a Navy magazine.

I’ve always loved religious art and continued to paint sacred themes while at sea.  This work proved to be helpful to many of the men who had witnessed the horrors of battle in Southeast Asia.  Many reported they found consolation and hope in my art.

I’ve also always harbored a desire to embellish worship spaces with traditional paintings like those of the great masters of old.  After getting positive reactions from my shipmates, I decided to direct my studies toward that goal.

During my college days; I donated my artistic talents to churches by painting banners, alter clothes and small devotional works.  A Dominican priest saw my work and thought that I might have a vocation to religious life.  So, I joined a monastery and continued my religious studies for five years until my superiors advised me that I was ready to return to the lay world.  “You can best serve the Church and the world as an artist,” they told me.  “We have trained you well, and now you are ready to do what God expects of you.”

Since then, I’ve done painting for churches and convents throughout the country. Here I’m painting at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in downtown Las Vegas, NV.

I also worked on Las Vegas stage productions such as EFX and Jubilee, and have done murals for Caesar’s Magical Empire, the Rio’s Masquerade Village and for four churches in the Diocese of Las Vegas.   I have also painted murals and decorative elements in private homes throughout the Las Vegas valley and elsewhere.